Australian and New Zealand Gardening: BROMELIADS FOR NOVICES & ADDICTS - NOVEMBER 2012, 3 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi everyone, not much to tell you today so I'll just look at the posts and add my two bobs worth as I go. Sorry I got delayed and now find myself responding to posts from the next day so I've missed a day somewhere.

Ian – I must say you had more luck at your meeting with raffle prizes than I did at my meeting. Your so called “little” Neo. 'Bobby Dazzler' won't stay little for long as it will grow into a fine big Neo. and one worth having in any collection. I don't know Werauhia sanguinolenta but according to the pic's on the FCBS site, it seems to have a nice shiny burgundy coloured leaves when grown in a suitable level of light; so congratulations on your win.

You've posted a nice lot of pic's Ian, but the one that really interests me is Neo. 'Blackout' as I could never find a picture of it on the BCR and no one down here has it either. Some seed came to me a couple of years ago of a cross between Neo. 'Blackout' x Neo. 'Mandella' and I don't know who did the cross but I know the seed came from the U.S. and had passed through about three sets of hands before I got what was left. I now know what Mum and Dad both look like, so I can only imagine what the babies which are now about 3” high will look like when they reach maturity.

Looking at today's pic's, I very much like the colour of the Neo Roy's Special (MJP) in Pic. 4, not sure of the MJP after the name but as it was registered by Margaret Patterson they maybe her initials although I don't know her middle name. The crossing was made by Roy Ford and is Neo. Meyendorffii (variegated) x Neo. Concentrica and I would say both of your plants are the same Neo. 'Roy's Special' (although they look very different) and the second plant isn't from “another strain” but is just an example of the variation possible when using Neo. meyendorffii (variegated) as a parent. Another example of its offspring being unstable can be seen with a lot of the Aussie Dream grex which often vary from year to year. To further support what I say you only have to look at the pictures posted with the original registration at:
http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/bcr/index.php?genus=NEOREGELIA&i...
I was unfortunate with the one I bought as all of the pups it produced after I bought it were plain with no sign of any variegation so consequently mine is now just Roy's Special NOVAR.
I think if you grow both of your plants side by side under the same light conditions you will find them very much alike when they adjust to the conditions.

Just out of interest, there was another very similar coloured hybrid from the same breeder made from a crossing using Neo. Concentrica x 'Meyendorffii Albomarginate', it was registered as Neo 'Roy Ford' by Kieth Golinski. See it at http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/bcr/index.php?fields=Breeder&id=...

Wendy – Good to see everything went off OK at the wedding; like Sue, I too would like to see a Pic. of you sleeping!! I've been keeping my fingers crossed for Max just like the rest of us I expect, and hoping very much for a favourable outcome.

Are the seedlings of Neo. 'Reynella Rebel' x Neo. 'Red Bird' showing any colour yet? Mine are still far to small to tell. Hopefully you may even get some with variegations as Reynella Rebel is a variegated plant (albeit unstable). Finally and just for the record Meyendorffii has 2 f's and 2 i's.

Great pic's you've posted as usual and would you believe that just last week I was fortunate to have a very good friend send me a pup of Neo 'Dream Baby” and even as a pup the colour is magnificent.

Shirley - I think the plant shown in your pic's is the same as the one one the BCR. and if you look carefully at the BCR pic you can see the spotting is similar but the colour different. They possibly look different because they've been grown under different conditions and the one depicted on the BCR appearing to be grown in a low light situation. Also they are both grown in very different climates as the one on the BCR was grown and photographed in the Singapore Gardens and this could also have a bearing on the different appearances. This is a very different plant to the one I said has been in our area for years under that same name and which I was going to post a pic of today, but the camera battery has died so it won't happen..

Sue – That's the first time I've ever seen 'Break of Day' and 'Kautskyi' growing in a garden environment. You can probably get away with it as you have a warmer climate than I, but they certainly look nice growing naturally and the colour is magnificent. To maintain that sort of colour here I have to hang them right up beneath the shade cloth because if I put them in the garden they just change to various tones of green in the colder weather and only get a bit of colour in the hot summer months. As for your 'Kautskyi' seed, I'd love some as I have a small group of friends who are just starting out growing from seed and as I know it grows well from seed it would be a good one to encourage them with; besides which we would be also doing our bit to keep a beautiful species going.

I think your Vriesea NOID looks great in the garden as well. I think a lot of people (like I did) think that Vrieseas are too soft to grow in a garden. I found that couldn't be further from the truth as I had two in our back garden during the heat wave we had one New Years Day a few years back and they handled it much better than the Neoregelias and the Aechmeas which is hard to believe as they have much thinner leaves than either of the other two. However they had no damage except a couple of burnt leaf tips, whereas the others had very large areas of scalding on the leaves. So people shouldn't be put off from trying them in the garden (like I was initially) just because they look too “thin leaved”. Another thing that a lot of growers won't try either is growing them on tree branches; they make magnificent epiphytic subjects and just seem to relish this type of culture. I have a friend with a massive plant of Vr. 'Phippipo-Cobergii' growing in a tree and it looks great.

Breeindy – Your two plants do have similar marking to Neo 'Totara Fire Opal' and it will be interesting to compare their parents when the parentage of Neo 'Totara Fire Opal' appears on the Cultivar Register. 'Marble Throat' which was crossed with 'Yellow Sand' to make 'Red River' could just be the common denominator. As for 'Pink River', well that's not registered so we don't know the parents of that either. The other possibility for the similarity is fluctuation in temperature. Sudden changes in temperatures can also change the leaf pattens as you've probably seen where some plants with a plain coloured leaf will sometimes show up with a bar across the leaf which will probably never happen again to that plant; just one of Mother Natures little “quirks”.

Jean – Wow! We don't hear from you for a while and then we get all the news at once and it's great to see you posting. I like your 'Enchantment' albo-marginata, until now I'd never seen one before. I have the plain one which I'm very fond of, but an albo-marginated plant looks great and please write me down for a pup when you get a spare.

I have a plant with similar foliage to your Vriesea which I also bought as Vriesea hieroglyphica x Vr. 'Red Chestnut' and it was later identified as Vr. 'Erotica'. Apparently it was an early hybrid from either Bob Larnach or Lou Forest and got around with many different names which caused utter confusion. I have mine coming into flower now so I'll see if I can get a pic of the flower spike today and post it so you will have something to compare to yours. With the pic of your large NOID in the group shot, it's hard to say but it looks like a Vriesea and if it is, the faint banding could suggest a hieroglyphica hybrid of some sort.

With your Aechmea NOIDS, well one thing for sure is they have gamosepala somewhere in the breeding. I once crossed an Ae. racine 'Jungle Jewel' with Ae, 'Caudata' and when they all flowered they mostly looked like the plant in you third post and it was obvious that insects had been at work and pollinated all of the flowers with Ae. gamosepala which crosses with pretty well anything that's in flower at the time and what's more it appears from the offspring that the Ae. gamosepala is the dominant parent as there are many similarities. In your last post, the first plant could be Ae gamosepala variety 'Nivea'. The other two pic's could be Aechmea 'Mary Brett' or two of its hybrids. I cant be sure as it's growing in a low light situation but try some in higher light and you'll get a more compact plant and the flower spike will be more compact if my guess is right. Also don't apologise for the Magpies, I have the same problem as do many others who grow brom's in the garden.

Trish – Nice of you to offer a swap of Neo.'Stormy Weather', but I already have two others which are also very similar and as I'm trying to cut back a bit I'll have to decline your offer. However I'll send you a bit of the Neo 'Prince of Darkness' (which also has a ? over its name) with the warning that you may have to juggle to light percentages to get that purple colour just right as I had to swap it around to about four locations before I cracked it.

I forgot to mention how much I liked the little Sunbird's nest in the pic's yesterday. I first saw one of these when we visited Cairns many years ago (pre brom growing days) and I was interested to see the female goes in via a side entrance toward the bottom of the structure while the male camps in a little type of nest on top to act as a sentry; really amazing stuff.

I've gotta finish now; too much other work to do. Today Pic.1 is Neo. 'Nobel Descent' just to show what colour is obtainable when grown in bright light. The next four are beautiful hybrids from Lisa Vinzant, a hybridiser from Hawaii who gave me her kind permission to post them for you all to enjoy. Pic 2 is a very unusual Neo which is to be registered as Neo. 'Cat's Pajamas', Pic 3 is Neo 'Cherry Blossum', Pic.4 is Neo 'Blueberry Pie' and Pic.5 is Neo. Riqueza.

All the best, Nev.